The Rose Bowl: Thoughts from the Student Section

-Don't take anything away from the Buckeyes, they were good value for their win. We got a little taste of Terrelle Pryor's upside Friday, didn't we? We expected him to be mobile, to move around in the pocket and make tacklers miss, but I don't think many people (apart from Jim Tressel and his coaching staff) envisioned Pryor throwing the ball 37 times, and completing 23 of those passes.

And when Pryor and the Ohio State offense came up short, the Buckeye's defense bailed them out. The D-line pressured Jeremiah Masoli almost every time he dropped back to pass, and didn't allow the Ducks running game to wear them down. The secondary held up well too: Masoli only had 81 passing yards on the day.

-Moving on to the Ducks, you have to say that, given the performance of the offense, they had little hope of winning this game. I haven't seen Oregon's offense look that toothless and one-dimensional since the very beginning of the year. One stat (apart from Masoli's 9 completions) that perfectly captured the game was the number of Duck first downs. 12. For an offense that prides itself in moving the ball, and going on long but fast drives, that's a number that kills you.

The Ducks had 26 first downs against Cal, 31 against USC and 25 against Oregon State in the Civil, their three biggest wins of the season. But they couldn't get that momentum going on offense. 12 first downs, that's approaching Boise State territory (they had 6 in that game).

Ohio State managed to keep the Ducks in third-and-long all day, and Masoli does not yet have the vision, poise and touch when he passes the football to beat a defense as good as Ohio State through the air in obvious passing situations.

To me that's something that Chip Kelly has to work on this off-season. Get Masoli a package of plays that he is comfortable executing in those obvious passing situations (from the shotgun if necessary). And that doesn't mean he has to throw a lot of long balls either. Utilize the team's speed by throwing good screens and tossing LaMichael James and Kenjon Barner the ball out of the backfield. Oh, and get the offensive line to work on its pass as well as its run protection. Masoli needs more time back there in those situations.

-Given the team's woes on offense, and the resulting extra time they had to spend on the field, I thought the defense actually gave a fairly good account of themselves. The secondary did get beat a number of times by the explosive DeVier Posey and Pryor did rack up over 70 rushing yards, but the front seven did also get to Pryor quite a bit (Kenny Rowe, my defensive MVP this year, picked up three of Oregon's four sacks) and held Brandon Saine and Daniel Herron to under 100 yards on 28 rushes.

-Finally a quick mention for special teams. If there was one huge positive to take from Friday's game it was the performance of special teams. Time and time again, they gave Oregon a lift with a big return, and prevented Ohio State from doing likewise. 204 yards of kickoff and punt returns: that's a huge number. They did a fantastic job of setting the table for the offense and giving them great field position.

Civil War: Thoughts from the Student Section

-The better team won on Thursday. Oregon State produced a great performance, and are a really solid team, but from the get-go it seemed as if this was Oregon's game to lose. Despite two turnovers in the first half that put the Beavers in the redzone, and their defense struggling to come to grips with the Rodgers brothers, they still went in at the half only down 23-21.

In the second half, a couple of big stops from the defense allowed Oregon to regain the lead, before the “Le's” -LaMichael James, and LeGarrette Blount- took over, each coming up with a touchdown run. In the final minutes, Chip Kelly decided to go for it on a couple of big fourth downs, which the Ducks converted, essentially breaking the back of the Beavers challenge.

The Ducks deservedly win the Pac-10 and move on to the Rose Bowl.

-If you're looking for a turning point in this one, look no further than Kenny Rowe's second half pressure on Sean Canfield. In the first half, the Ducks couldn't get any pressure on the Beavers QB. Canfield, one of the most efficient passers in the Pac-10, had no trouble dissecting the Ducks inexperienced secondary with no pressure in his face.

That all changed a little over 2 minutes left in the third quarter, when, for seemingly the first time all game, a defender, DE Kenny Rowe, pressured and hit Canfield from the backside just as he was about to find the wide-open James Rodgers. On the next play, it was junior end Zac Clark turn to pressure Canfield, causing an inaccurate throw, and thereby holding Oregon State to a field goal.

On the Beavers next two possessions, the Ducks got all kinds of pressure on Canfield. Rowe sacked him twice and the Ducks first forced a huge 3 and out and then a turnover on downs.

Those stands by the Ducks D were crucial, and put Oregon back in the game's driving seat.

-We already knew Chip Kelly isn't scared to go for it on fourth down, but he just gave us another reminder Thursday. Three times he left his offense on the field on fourth down, and three times they came up roses. No doubt that the offense has responded to the confidence Kelly has shown in them all year, as exemplified by Masoli running over safety Lance Mitchell to just get past the sticks on one of the second of those fourth down plays.

-LeGarrette Blount had been waiting a while to get back on the field and on Thursday, he finally got it. It was hard to miss Blount being back in the huddle, after seeing the similarly sized Masoli and James standing next to each other out of the shotgun all season, suddenly Masoli seemed dwarfed by his backfield companion.

Blount had two big runs out of his 9 carries. First he had a 12 yarder for a touchdown, and then 30 yarder up the gut. After his touchdown run, not only his joy but that of all his teammates was clearly apparent. Everyone knows it's been a tough year for the big guy.

Hats off once again to Chip Kelly who I believe has handled the Blount situation perfectly this year. Despite pressure to do so, he didn't rush him back in either the Arizona State, or Arizona game, but still managed to get him meaningful carries in a crucial game towards the end of his Ducks career.

I'll bet we'll see him get quite a few carries in the Rose Bowl, as Chip Kelly will need his physicality to wear down Ohio State's big defense.

-Jeff Maehl has come a long way this year. I remember earlier this year against USC, even in a huge win, some Duck fans wouldn't get off receiver Maehl's back after he drew a number of yellow flags, for false start and holding penalties.

Well, boy, he's turned things around the last few games. Five of his six touchdowns for the year have come in the last four games, and he's been monstrous in the two Pac-10 deciding games. He followed up his 12 reception, 114 yard and 2 TD day against Arizona, with 6 receptions and 138 yards against the Beavers, including a 73 yard TD reception and a crucial, tough catch on 4th and 6 in the third quarter.

With Ed Dickson having played his last game at Autzen, expect Maehl to be Masoli's number 1 target next year.

Ducks go down at Stanford

Stanford did more than knock off #7 Oregon and put itself back in the Pac-10 running Saturday, they beat the hottest team in college football.

Not many picked Oregon to beat USC last weekend, and perhaps even fewer predicted a Stanford win this week.

But Stanford (6-3, 5-2 Pac-10) executed a perfect game plan and came through to record an impressive 51-42 victory over the Ducks (7-2, 5-1).

“I'm just proud of my players,” Cardinal Coach John Harbaugh said down on the field after the game, surrounded by the Stanford student body, “Our team expressed who we are today.”

The Stanford offense was the story of the day, scoring on 9 of their 13 possessions including 6 touchdowns and 3 field goals. Cardinal running back Toby Gerhart was as advertized, providing a continuous stream of tough, bruising runs. He broke 100 yards rushing in the first half, and finished with a school record 223 yards and three touchdowns. By the end of the game, he looked winded, sore and exhausted, but still wanted one last rush to ice the game for the Cardinal.

Perhaps more surprising was the performance Andrew Luck, the freshman quarterback from Houston. Much is expected of Luck in the future, but even the most diehard Cardinal fan would not have predicted his first half performance. Succeeding where Jake Locker and Matt Barkley had failed, Luck picked apart the Ducks inexperienced secondary in the first two quarters.

While he only had 12 completions on the day, two of those were touchdown passes, and he averaged an eye-popping 21 yards per throw. His ability to throw the deep ball really put Stanford in the driving seat early on. Throughout the game Luck did a great job of recognizing different coverages, and most importantly only threw one bad pass which was dropped by Spencer Paysinger. His poise was also excellent, often releasing the ball just before getting hit.

Oregon's offense responded well to playing constant catch-up. After a slow start, they ended up with 580 total yards. Quarterback Jeremiah Masoli actually had one of the best days passing the football in a Duck uniform. He completed 22 of 38 passes, with a number of drops, for 343 yards and 3 touchdowns.

The Ducks rallied in the fourth quarter, scoring two touchdowns, and cutting the Stanford lead from 20 to 6. But in the end, their defense's inability to stop the power running game of Toby Gerhart throughout the second half meant Oregon always had too ground to make up and not enough time to make it happen. A Nate Whitaker field goal with 11 seconds sealed one of the biggest wins in the history of Stanford football.

Oregon VS USC Quick Hits

-Oregon's offense shreds USC: 613 total yards of total offense. 391 yards of rushing offense. The Ducks produced a jaw-dropping offensive display on Saturday night in Eugene. The Trojans simply could not get the Ducks off the field, and did not come up with one defensive stand of real significance as Oregon scored on 9 of its 11 possessions.

The central cog of the Ducks' spread offense, quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, had the best game of his season and perhaps of his Oregon career. He improvised beautifully on a couple plays in the first half, and after a couple of effective scrambles, began taking off and running more and more, finishing up with 164 yards rushing on 13 carries.

-Saturday's game was a coming out party for LaMichael James: Oregon football fanatics have known about LaMichael James since they saw the true freshman's burst and cutting ability in preseason practices. He's wooed the rest of Duck Nation with his displays in the seven games since he took over from LeGarette Blount.

But Saturday marked James' coming out party as one of the top college running backs in the nation. Against the best defense he has faced, LaMichael showed America the fabulous blend of speed and elusiveness he possesses. He followed his blockers perfectly, used his smaller size to his advantage by frequently ducking under the attempted tackles of bigger linebackers and linemen, and kept runs alive when they seemed over.

-Ducks secondary produce huge second half: The Duck's young secondary looked in trouble in the first half when Oregon's front seven couldn't get to Matt Barkley. It looked as though, with the time he was getting, he would be able to find open receivers all game.

However the Ducks' secondary responded in the second half. Talmadge Jackson III showed great coverage down the field on a couple of plays and John Boyett, the freshman safety, had the defensive play of the night, when on the first snap of the fourth quarter, he just managed at full stretch to get his hand in front of Trojan receiver Brandon Carswell to bat away a pass, preventing a big gain.

-Trojans don't take advantage of dominant offensive line: Why, oh, why did the coaching staff not call more running plays, many Trojan fans must be wondering this morning. Indeed, the giant Trojan O-line seemed to be able to overpower the Ducks on running plays and open holes for their backs throughout the game.

Yet Pete Carroll seemed to turn away from the run, and put the ball into the hands of Matt Barkley as the game wore on, resulting in the SC offense completely stalling in the second half.

-Barkley turns in mediocre performance: The Trojans' freshman quarterback had claimed before the game that he would feed off Autzen's noise. Roundly booed as he entered the field for warm-ups, he produced a uneven display. Given lots of time in the pocket by his protection in the first half, he executed well and led the Trojans on two touchdown drives. He did, however, overthrow a wide-open receiver on what would have been a touchdown pass.

In the second half, the Duck managed to dial up the pressure on him. He took a couple of hard hits, and was sacked twice, and began to make more and more off target throws. With the Oregon offense rolling the way it was, he did not have that room for error.

Oregon Vs USC

Five Reasons Oregon will win

1. Autzen Stadium. The Ducks are 4-0 at home this season. When their season could have fallen apart against Purdue or Utah, the Autzen faithful helped the Ducks keep it together, and in the next two home games, they blew out Cal and Washington State. Eugene has been buzzing all week about USC coming to town, and with College Gameday showing up as well, the atmosphere in Autzen will be simply electric on Saturday. Oh, and everyone remembers what happened last time USC rolled into Autzen in 2007.

2. Masoli is running the spread offense perfectly right now. In the last five games Masoli has started, the offense has averaged over 41 points. It's hard to imagine USC completely shutting down Oregon's offensive game with the number of weapons it possesses.

3. The Ducks offensive line has been dominant. One of the biggest question marks heading into the season, the relatively inexperienced O-line has responded superbly. After one of his touchdown runs last Saturday, LaMichael James was seen on the sideline congratulating each one of his linemen. They are a big part of why he is averaging 6.9 yards per carry. Their pass protection has also been excellent, in the last two games, on a number of drop-backs, Masoli seemed to have an age to throw the ball.

4. The Ducks defense is ranked in the top 20 in the nation. Despite numerous injuries throughout the year, Oregon's defense is the best it's been in years. They've been able to consistently halt the opposition's running game, and get pressure on the opponent's quarterback. Most importantly, they've done it as a unit, rather than with one or two standouts. They made Jake Locker, the consensus best quarterback in the Pac-10, look decidedly ordinary last weekend, and seem as ready as they'll ever be for the even bigger challenge of shutting down USC's offense and Matt Barkley, who has looked very cool under pressure so far.

5. USC is overrated at no. 4 this season. First of all, USC lost to the Huskies, the team Oregon destroyed last weekend. Secondly, they narrowly avoided defeat against both Ohio State and Notre Dame. It took a phenomenal Matt Barkley-led drive deep in the fourth quarter to overcome an average Ohio State team, and Jimmy Clausen was one completion away from handing the Trojans their second defeat. USC hardly set the world alight at home against Oregon State last Saturday. Last time Oregon took on an overrated top 10 team in Eugene, Cal earlier this year, the game was over in the third quarter.

Five Reasons USC will win

1. USC has more pure talent on its team than Oregon. The strength of the program Pete Carroll has built is that it is filled from top to bottom with blue-chip talent. Matt Barkley was rated no.1 prospect of the class of 2009 by ESPN. Taylor Mays is a consensus top-10 draft pick in the 2010 NFL draft. Their stable of running backs, even minus Stafon Johnson, is one of the best in the nation.

2. USC possess the most talented offensive line the Ducks have faced. If the USC O-line is able to stop Oregon's defensive penetration, Matt Barkley will fancy his chances to pick apart the Ducks' inexperienced secondary.

3. USC's defense is stingy. Masoli and co. will not be able to run the ball all over USC as they have their last few opponents. The USC defense has only given up a little over 15 points a game, and allowed 2.4 yards per carry. LaMichael James can expect his toughest game yet, and that means Masoli is going to have to connect on more high-pressure throws.

4. USC doesn't lose games like this. Over the years, USC has made a habit of making things harder for themselves by dropping games to unheralded opponents, Washington this year, Oregon State in 2008, Stanford in 2007. In fact, the last time they lost to top-10 team was against the Ducks in 2007. Oregon has zero surprise factor for the Trojans this year, as they've had this date circled on the calendar certainly since the Ducks trounced Cal, and perhaps even since that loss in 2007.

5. USC knows its chance to play for the national championship depends on this game. After the Washington loss, USC might have thought they had blown their chance once again. But other results have gone their way, meaning that if they win in Eugene, they still have a chance at making a run at the national championship. That should provide the Trojans with all the motivation they need.